Friday was a light day for the Wings, who arrived at Center ICE Arena for physicals and a battery of fitness tests prior to the first day of training camp, which starts Saturday.

Wings’ players ribbed Holmstrom, who had to lie down on a table to prevent from getting light-headed as blood was drawn from his arm.

“He’s one of the few guys that laid down,” captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “He's a little sensitive, but yet he can stand in front of the net and face slap shots coming at him at 100 miles per hour. Go figure that one out. He's afraid of needles, but not afraid of pucks.”

But because of Holmstrom’s tough exterior, Henrik Zetterberg delighted in poking fun at his friend and teammate.

“Homer has some issues,” Zetterberg said. “He's not that tough off the ice. He's a little softy.”

Needles aside, players were put through their paces by the team’s training staff. The consensus was that the Wingate Anaerobic Test was the toughest 30-seconds of many of their lives.

“That's the one you're most happy when you're done,” Zetterberg said. “The first 15 (seconds) are kind of OK, but then they tell you that you're halfway. That's when it gets hard. It's nice when you're done with it.”

Players are tested on a bike, which was connected to a computer, and once players reach a sprinting speed, weight is added based by a player’s height. The test is used to measure how each player maintains pedaling speed.

The Wings are equally competitive off of the ice, so winning the Wingate test was a big deal Friday. And most agreed – albeit some sarcastically – that forward Danny Cleary won.

“He brags about Wingate because he knows that's the only test he's best at, so all of a sudden that's the most important test,” Zetterberg said. “I'll give him that. He does have some good results.”

One player nearly blacked out on the bike, but Cleary wasn’t about to feel sympathetic for anyone.

“They hate that I'm the best,” said Cleary, half joking. “They like to beat me and I never rode a bike this summer. … I love measuring myself against other teammates.”

Even though Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula and Pavel Datsyuk gave Cleary a pretty good run in the overall fitness testing, he wasn’t pushed as hard as he used to be by former teammate Kris Draper.

“He'll be proud of me today,” said Cleary, of Drapes. “Helm challenges me the most now. Fil is in good shape, too. Pull-ups and bench (press) they might not have as high. Pav is in different kind of shape, cardio. Pav is in amazing shape.”

BABY HOWARD: Jimmy Howard confirmed Friday that his wife, Rachel, is expecting the couple’s first child, a boy, at the end of October.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

After his first few years in the league, who would have thought that Cleary would be in the best physical shape of all his teammates nearly a decade down the road? Him and his family must be extremely proud of him. As for Howie, congrats!!!

Sign in

Detroit Red Wings News, Views and Community since 1996

Founded in 1996, LetsGoWings.com is a community of thousands of hockey fans from the Metro Detroit area and around the world dedicated to cheering on and following the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.